Cuts to Sheriff's Department put county at risk

7:28 PM,
Dec. 1, 2012

In 2010, Barbara Shields greets Shields, the horse named after her husband, Robert Shields, a deputy who died earlier that year, as Garrett Clapp from the Rockland County Sheriff's department stands by.

Written by

Carl S. Wright

Any curtailment of the Sheriff's Department as proposed in the 2013 Rockland County budget would place all Rockland County residents at risk. No one wishes to face emergencies and threats with fewer resources in the future.

There is only one police agency at the county level, and that is the Rockland Sheriff's Department. The office of sheriff is charged with many duties and responsibilities. It operates the jail, patrols waterways and highways, has a Bureau of Criminal Identification, has a computer crimes unit, protects county property and has a mounted patrol.